'Significant' rise in migration to UK

28 August 2014 Last updated at 12:50

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Immigration minister James Brokenshire described the effort to cut net migration as "challenging"

There was a "statistically significant" increase in net migration into the UK in the year up to March, from 175,000 to 243,000, the Office for National Statistics has said.

EU citizens accounted for two-thirds of the increase, including a rise in arrivals from Romania and Bulgaria.

Ministers said they would "control migration at sustainable levels".

Separate figures showed over 25% of births in England and Wales last year were to mothers themselves born abroad.

There was also a rise in the proportion of people in the UK who were born abroad.

'Sustainable levels'

Prime Minister David Cameron has previously pledged to reduce net migration to below 100,000 by 2015.

According to the quarterly statistics, a total of 560,000 immigrants arrived in the UK over the 12-month period to March, while an estimated 316,000 people left.

Analysis

Dominic Casciani, Home affairs correspondent

Whatever you think of the figures, today's migration statistics are part of the story of an open market economy in a globalised world.

Every year for the past 20, more people have been arriving in the UK than leaving. The reasons for those movements are complex and have regularly changed.

The key factors were once students or those seeking refuge.

Today it is about work - and the attraction of the open British economy where businesses can recruit from a continental marketplace.

Ministers have restricted immigration from outside the EU - but they have no power to stop the freedom of movement for work inside the club.

And so, as the British economy grows faster than other parts of Europe, workers will continue to arrive - and the net migration target moves further and further out of reach.

There was an increase in people migrating for work, to 228,000, while 177,000 arrivals were students.

Long-term emigration was "relatively stable", the ONS said.

The number of migrants from Romania and Bulgaria increased from 12,000 to 28,000 over the 12-month period. Employment restrictions on citizens of the two countries were lifted in January.

Immigration and security minister James Brokenshire said hitting the immigration target would be "challenging" because of the increase in migration from inside the EU.

Ministers have no powers to stop the free movement of European workers.

'Effectively impossible'

Mr Brokenshire added: "Uncontrolled, mass immigration makes it difficult to maintain social cohesion, puts pressure on public services and forces down wages. That's why our focus remains on controlling migration at sustainable levels."

He said the government had cut net migration since the previous administration and was "creating a system that is fair to British citizens and legitimate migrants but is tough on those who flout the rules".

But the Oxford Migration Observatory said the latest figures made it "effectively impossible for the government to achieve its target by the end of this Parliament without radical measures".

Pressure group MigrationWatch UK said the levels of net migration were "not sustainable".

The group said: "It will put huge further strain on our infrastructure, housing and school places."

David Hanson, the shadow immigration minister, said: "Today is about David Cameron's target. He promised a target, no ifs, no buts, and he has missed that target today."

At the same time as the immigration statistics were released, the ONS published figures showing 12.4% of the UK's "usual population" in 2013 were born abroad - an increase from 8.9% in 2004.

There was also an increase in the number who had non-British nationality, from 5% to 7.8%.

The ONS also said that 26.5% of births in England and Wales last year were to mothers who were themselves born outside the UK, up from 25.9% in 2012.

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